Terms like “attain”, “required attainments”, “KPIs”, and “SMART” are commonly used in business administration, project management, organisational development, and performance appraisals in the marketplace, but rarely used in church settings. So, are these terms biblical and applicable in the church?
Ephesians 4:11-13
And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.
Paul said “until we all attain to…”. So, how do we know whether we have attained to the requirements unless we are able to measure the attainments?
There are measurable required attainments, or key performance indicators (KPIs), throughout the process of “the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ”. These KPIs are incumbent on all fivefold ministers to design, implement, and measure throughout the process of equipping saints for the work of service so that the corporate body can be built up accurately according to the project blueprint of the Architect and Builder who said “I will build My church” (Matthew 16:18-19).
Paul had stated four overarching KPIs for equipping saints and building the church, and each of the following overarching KPIs can then be sub-divided into subsidiary KPIs that are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound) based on the unique developmental processes that are required to attain to the overarching KPIs in different settings.
It is important to note that these four overarching KPIs are applicable not just to fivefold ministers in corporate settings, but also to individual believers in their own spiritual journey. After all, if body-members do not attain to these KPIs, how can the multi-membered body attain to these KPIs?
The first KPI is unity of true faith and faithfulness towards God, which is modelled to us by the faith and faithfulness OF Jesus as Son of Man (c.f. Romans 3:26 Greek Interlinear; NASB footnote). This unity of faith and faithfulness goes beyond faith and faithfulness IN Jesus; this unity requires oneness of all who are OF the same faith and faithfulness OF Jesus on earth.
The second KPI is unity of the true knowledge of the Son of God, doctrines about the Christ, and principles of the oracles of God (c.f. Hebrews 5:11-6:3). This is the discipline of theological education (though not necessarily academic in form).
Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.
Philippians 2:1-2
The third KPI is spiritual formation and maturity; that is, how much Godliness, Christlikeness, and Spirit-giftedness is sanctified, formed, and functional in the believers, both as individuals and as a synergised corporate body, in accordance to the first and second KPIs. This KPI requires the most laborious processes until “Christ is formed” in us (Galatians 4:19). Thus, a mature stature is not so much prayed or preached but progressively formed and developed into believers and churches.
The fourth KPI is attaining to a stature that is no less than the standard which belongs to the fullness of Christ; that is, a matured bodily form that is filled up and manifesting to all the fullness of God (c.f. Ephesians 3:19; Colossians 2:9), be it as individual body-members or as a synergised corporate body.
So, in a nutshell, attaining to these four KPIs is the substance of the prayer of Jesus in John 17:6-23, which shall surely come to pass.
Thus, unless they are only interested in preaching platforms and “doing personal ministry”, fivefold ministers are called to design processes, implement strategies, and measure performances “until we all attain to” the required KPIs; for we can never build up the corporate body of Christ without measurable growth and functional outcomes in a timely manner. Even Paul had time-bound growth outcomes in mind when he said, “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.” (Hebrews 5:12) In fact, time-bound measurable growth and functional outcomes have become all the more critical when we consider the last days in which we are living.
Even Jesus spoke about time-bound KPIs.
Luke 12:42-46
And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But if that slave says in his heart, ‘My master will be a long time in coming,’ and begins to beat the slaves, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk; the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers.
Indeed, a faithful and sensible steward, whom his master puts in charge of his servants, will give them their appropriate rations at the proper time so that they can attain to their growth and functional outcomes in the house in a measurable and timely manner according to the master’s KPIs. If this steward does not follow the master’s will for the household, and the master calls him to account for his unfaithfulness towards his calling, then this steward will be assigned to “a place with the unbelievers”.
Here, Paul concurred with the parable of Jesus. The Master has called fivefold ministers to give saints their appropriate rations at the proper time so that they can attain growth and functional outcomes “in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love (Ephesians 4:15-16). The onus is then on the fivefold ministers to design processes, implement strategies, and measure performances “until we all attain to” the expressed KPIs of the Master, as revealed by Paul.
As individual saints, do we have individual processes and SMART KPIs to “attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ”?
As fivefold ministers, do we have corporate processes and SMART KPIs to “attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ” for our corporate body called the church?
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